It's the free-range dog.
I don't like them, whether cycling or walking. They'll come up & have a bark & a sniff, then the owner will tell you how friendly their pooch is. Unless of course it's had its nose in your lunch bag, in which case they'll keep quiet.
Walking the Pennines last week, 2 bloody dogs had a go, twice they wouldn't return to their owners.
The cyclists we met were fine, they said Hi, we said Hi. They even said thanks when I held a gate open for them.
Generally I've had no probs with walkers up here. I am one myself. Maybe as there is less contention on the trails.
Closest I came was a solitary guy up the Ochils, just me and him with the whole place to ourselves. My brakes were squealing like a pig, so I stopped to apologise for ruining his peace and quiet as I passed, expecting a cheery 'no bother' and a wee bit of chat about the lovely weather, etc. But no. Awkward, stilted conversation about how he doesn't like mountain bikes. Meh.
Didn't spoil my ride though. Even when I'm shit, my gears are slipping and I have a mechanical, I don't think I've ever regretted going for a ride.
[b]lemonysam[/b]:Rambling groups tend to make an absolute mockery of any kind of Shared Used Path. Popped out to Wylam the other day and a group of (at a guess) 20 were taking up the entire path, which is maybe 4 metres wide at this point. We rang bells and said a cheery pardon me. They scowled moaned at me..
Aah my home path, the NCN72.
Never met a big group of ramblers on it.
I only seem to get hassle on that path on those rare days when the sun is shining and folk who clearly haven't been outdoors for some considerable time decide they should heave themselves off the sofa and try walking to the the chip shop for a change.
They seem highly aggravated by cyclists, no matter how much you ring the bell, slow down or wait patiently. I suspect they are worried by exercise. 😀
The regulars on the path (folk walking kids to school, joggers, dog walkers, etc) are generally all pretty pleasant and we exchange pleasant "Morning, Afternoon, Alreet?, Thankyou, Cheers" as appropriate.
I think it is easier when you see the same folk regularly as you learn which ones like to hear a bell and which ones are annoyed by it.
according to Ewan McColl some Manchester ramblers were working around that time.
I've been over Snowdon
I've slept up on Crowdon
I've camped by the wain stones as well
I've sun bathed on kinder
Been burned to a cinder
And many more things I can tell
My rucksack has oft been my pillow
The heather has oft been my bed
And sooner then part from the mountains
I think I would rather be dead
I'm a rambler, I'm a rambler from Manchester way
I get all my pleasure the hard moorland way
I may be a wage slave on Monday
But I am a free man on Sunday
The day was just ending
As I was descending
Trough Grindsbrook just by Upper-Tore
When a voice cried: "Hey You!"
In the way keepers do
He'd the worst face that I ever saw
The things that he said were unpleasant
In the teeth of his fury I said
Sooner then part from the mountains
I think I would rather be dead
I'm a rambler, I'm a rambler from Manchester way
I get all my pleasure the hard moorland way
I may be a wage slave on Monday
But I am a free man on Sunday
He called me a louse
And said: "Think of the grouse"
Well, I thought but I still couldn't see
Why old kinder scout
And the moors round about
Couldn't take both the poor grouse and me
He said: "All this land is my master's"
At that I stood shaking my head
No man has the right to own mountains
Any more than the deep ocean bed
I'm a rambler, I'm a rambler from Manchester way
I get all my pleasure the hard moorland way
I may be a wage slave on Monday
But I am a free man on Sunday
I once loved a maid
A spot-welder by trade
She was as fair as the rowan in bloom
And the bloom of here eyes
Mocked the June moorland sky
And I loved here from April to June
On the day that we should have been married
I went for a ramble instead
For sooner then part from the mountains
I think I would rather be dead
I'm a rambler, I'm a rambler from Manchester way
I get all my pleasure the hard moorland way
I may be a wage slave on Monday
But I am a free man on Sunday
So I'll walk were I will
Over mountain and hill
And I lie where the bracken is deep
I belong to the mountains
The clear running fountains
Where the grey rock rise rugged and steep
I've seen the white hare in the gully
And the curlew flies high over head
And sooner then part from the mountains
I think I would rather be dead
I'm a rambler, I'm a rambler from Manchester way
I get all my pleasure the hard moorland way
I may be a wage slave on Monday
But I am a free man on Sunday
Aah my home path, the NCN72.
Never met a big group of ramblers on it.I only seem to get hassle on that path on those rare days when the sun is shining and folk who clearly haven't been outdoors for some considerable time decide they should heave themselves off the sofa and try walking to the the chip shop for a change.
Try NCN4 on the K&A Canal around Bradford-on-Avon on a sunny Sunday, but especially at Bank Holidays; family groups, small kids running around, dogs either on 20' extending leads, or not on any lead at all, parents yakking to each other, not paying any attention to what other people are doing, or their kids, or dogs, who then get bolshy because you're right behind them, asking to get past, asking why you haven't got a bell, 'what, like the one I've been ringing continuously from forty yards behind you?' They don't seem to like that much, either... 🙄
Much as I'd dearly like to shove the ignorant half-wits into the canal, Sustrans would get rather pissy about one of their volunteer Rangers behaving in such a way, so I just have to smile, and suck it up.
It does go against the grain, sometimes... 😕
There's been more than one occasion recently when walkers ([i]not[/i] ramblers) have held gates open for me. Which is nice.
Our elderly neighbours reckons that the collective name for hikers is a hemorrhoid of hikers - because they are pain in the backside
if someone said to me 'i dont like mountain bikers'
my immediate reply would be 'i dont like assholes'
There will always be some members of any given community who are not representative of the majority, but who create a bad impression through their individual actions and behaviours.
I don't know how some people on here can so easily distinguish the ramblers from walkers, it's just simple individual ignorance and character/personality, shirley?.
MTB is in it's infancy, hopefully it's mostly down to a generation issue.
I'm a walker and biker, I've had one or two biking issues over the years and I'm uber considerate, but the majority of people have been ok and friendly. The few idiots, when I've been on me bike, have just been dismissed as idiots who probably won't be reasoned with, be they walker, rambler, dog walker etc etc.
I do get the militant mass group thing, but I think that is just still down to those odd individuals feeling massively empowered because they are within a big group, it doesn't necessarily represent the group, if you know what I mean?.
